


Meet the Monster

by SonjaJade



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-15
Updated: 2016-10-15
Packaged: 2018-08-22 11:42:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8284568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SonjaJade/pseuds/SonjaJade
Summary: Braeda meets Kimblee for the first time, and hopes it's also the last time.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: Drabble prompt on Tumblr: 'Meet me- My character is meeting yours either for the first time or just causally'.

During the Ishvallan conflict, Braeda worked in the propaganda pool, alongside a wire tap recorder, several photo editors and military writers, and a very grouchy Colonel who lamented being stationed away from the front lines.  He’d read reports of the sickening damages in the upheaval in the desert, then rewrote the reports to spin the news in a positive light.

Some of the names were mentioned very often- Basque Grande, Gigolo Comanche, Roy Mustang…  But the bloodiest and sickest reports involved an alchemist named Zolf Kimblee- the Crimson Lotus Alchemist.  The entire staffroom would shudder at the reports of the man smiling like a madman after a successful massacre, chatting excitedly afterwards with his superiors when making his reports about the smell of blood, the sound of terror in the screams, the rumble of thunder shaking through the ground as he annihilated dozens at a pass.  Braeda hoped he would never have the pleasure of meeting such a psycho, spinning the news reports to read that Kimblee carried out his orders dutifully, and not gladly like some maniac.

And then came the morning he and about 5 others from the ‘bull pen’ were sent out to the war zone, just after the extermination was declared successful.

Those who had survived were glad to put the experience behind them, though many were shaken by the things they’d done.  Still more were walking the edge of the knife, thinking on whether or not to keep living after the things they’d done.  And then they met Kimblee.

His demeanor was incredibly cool, considering he had the blood of thousands on his hands.  He seemed proud that he’d killed so many- and upset that he hadn’t been able to slaughter more of them.

He was sipping at cold coffee, or as cold as coffee could get in Ishval, when they interviewed him.  “The others did their part, certainly,” he said of his fellow state alchemists.  “Mustang did quite a bit of structural damage, which led to buildings collapsing on top of holed up insurgents, but for the most part, I was able to take out the most _enemies_ ,” he said proudly.  He looked at Harbin, one of the photographers brought along for the wrap up story.  “I’d love for you to be able to take some pictures of the bodies I left behind… but I’m afraid there’s nothing left to see.  My alchemy splinters wooden boards, disintegrates stones- can you imagine what it does to human bodies?”

Braeda, who was born with an iron stomach, had to close his eyes and focus on the toes of his boots to keep from vomiting.  It didn’t help that the entire desert wastes they’d been sent to reeked of blood.  He wondered how much of that blood Kimblee had spilled himself- or if he was the solitary reason it smelled so bad out here at all.

"I think we’ve got enough for our story, sir," Jacobs said after clearing his throat.  "Any final thoughts before we move on?"

Kimblee thought for a moment.  “Our existence is made up of polar opposites- sorrow and joy, light and dark, beauty and grotesque.  A rose contains both a sweet flower and sharp thorns, but who are we to say which one represents death?  You look around this battlefield and find corpses at every turn, mass graves being dug as we speak.  You see a wasteland littered with thorns, and all I see are red, red roses.”

Braeda was glad to move on to the next soldier to interview, even more relieved when he was arrested and thrown in prison a few weeks later.  Kimblee gave him the creeps and would sometimes haunt his nightmares.  Only years later when Kimblee was confirmed dead, did he finally rest easy at night again.


End file.
